The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-10

and trav of water under the piano to be
reasonable happy, and, fortunately for their
career as pets they are in no haste usually
to grow big enough to swallow the baby
home.
why" said an old man who keepsa curl
osity shop the other day, II have sold over
fifty alligators this spring, some for women
to carry i'll their pockets, and as | prom
ised to come around and feed some of them,
it keeps me pretty busy. 1 reckon some
folk'u want TO be keepin' whales next"
There is less change, probably, i'll the
fashion in birds than in animals, The can
airy holds his own as he has for years. He
is small, he is neat and dainty, no is cheap,
he is reasonably pretty, and he is an I'M
matched songster. But the big wholesale
bird stores, like Reiche's, on Park row,
where the fashions are set year ahead and
where fortunes in pets change hands yearly,
could tell you of scores of singers, of some
of which you never heard, perhaps, for
which there is constant demand with now
and then a well defined craze. Parrots
which talk may cost $500, and parrots that
don't can be bought for a song-no pun in
tended, for parrots don't sing. Paroquets
and macaws with their brilliant plumage are
chosen not infrequently to match the furnish
ings Of a richly colored room, while even
such coarse birds as the black bird, and such
quiet unmusical ones as wood pigeons, find
some favor as pets.
Among the most pathetic of pets are the
mules or hybrids. The commonest are
the hybrids of the canary and goldtinch and
of the linnet and chaffinch. These betray
some of the characteristics of both parents,
The half goldfinch, for example has some of
the canary yellow about it, and some of the
finchs bulkier build. 1t is fine singer as
is the chafflnch hybrid. A moderately popu-
lar bird is the grosbeak an orderly fellow of
sober plumage and docile behavior. The
African waxbillis a tiny, sad-colored pet no
larger than a humming bird. He never
sings but has prettily pathetic air about
him that captures feminine heart now and
then. The knocking bird is less liked than
he would be if he had not such an aversion
to living He Doesn't like the climate and
rarely lasts over his first winter. The or
chard oriole, the cardinal bird and the bobo-
link are growing in favor as pets Imagine
bottling up the mad music of the Robert of
Lincoln at so many dollars parcel. 1t is
sheer proclamation, as bad as shooting him as
the Baltimoreans do
Stuffed birds are n recent fancy. Since
society men have taken to cunning it is the
thing for the women of the house to perch
the spoils of the day about in all manners
of odd positions. Stuffed owls
have long been in vogue for
the library, indicating an appreciation of
wisdom in others, if you haven't much
yourself; though why the owl should be the
type of wisdom it would be hard to say, for
they are proverbially stupid, but like some
human beings possess the faculty OF keeping
still and not letting people find out how
foolish they are.
In the window of birdstOre on Broad
way half bushel of mud turtles are crawl
ing about. People have taken to buying
them to put out in gardens, and they do well
enough where there is grass or a suspicion of
mud An unusual pet is a big bull frog
One that | saw the other day was reported
TO be pining for its mate which an
artist had borrowed, hoping to induce it to
sit for its picture, and the third of the family
group had been taken by gentleman to
Germany to demonstrate how much fatter,
bigger, more musical and more nearly cap
able of swelling into an OK, the American
frogs are than the frogs Of the effete despot-
isms of Europe.
A pair of Texas horned frogs would be
just the pets for philosopher with little to
do. They are queer spiky-looking creatures
with every appearance of being dead, be-
cause they do not condescend to change
their position more than once i'll two or
three days. There is a New York ieweler
who has put gold band, with paddock and
chain, about one of the creatures, by which
he is now suspended to thewatch guard of a
young woman, who is climbing the Cat
slxills alpenstock in hand, and | thing they
have been fastened in the hat band Some
people take to salamanders, which are stupid
but harmless pets, and there is a distinct
fancy for fishes just now. Home aquaria
are seen everywhere, some fitted into conser-
vatories ingeniously, but about the only
curiosity ever found in them is an odd Jap
anese goldfish with fan-shaped tail The
kio, as fanciers call it, brings $500 some
times, though have seen as strange NAL
formations in goldfish out of the Hudson
river.
Insects for pets are more rare than sensa-
tionalists would have one believe | have
seen Just one myself, an ugly beetle that a
lady had worn attached by chain on her
corsage. Some accident happened to his
harness and he was laid up at a jewellers
for repairs. gave him sugar and he ate it
greedily.
IL is "A usual fiction that women are the
chief buyers of pets. Men buy as many
birds as women. They buy more dogs and
moro expensive ones. The poodle has his
place in the world, perhaps, as well as the
Irish setter Or the dachshund. The taste for
queer uncanny pets attributed to women is
simply an exaggeration Sarah Belnhardt
may get herself scratched oy young tiger,
but most women prefer a safer and more
seemly pet. ELIZA PUTNAM HEAToN
AMTTSTNG AND INSTRTTHTTUn